Okay big fat (and now completed) update time! I went ice skating with a few classmates which was fun... and funny, seeing as they were all first-timers. But we definitely enjoyed ourselves. :] I also partook in some impromptu Christmas carolling in the Piazza d'Italia with the Mormon church... which was an experience. :] On the first night of Hanukkah, too! With the other Jew-boy, Tim. 
And on the 2nd night of Hanukkah we went to the Virginia Mass Gospel which was amaaaaazing. We even snuck in a picture with some of the gang afterwards, who were super stoked to speak English with people, as they've been travelling around Italy for months!!
Our class all got together and had lunch one day, too, which was lots of fun (sorry, no pictures have surfaced of that yet, but I'll post them when they do).
Oh, and I cut Tim's hair... hahaha. Exchange students: too broke to afford a good haircut (he looks thrilled, huh?). That's my confident face.I also went to a Rotaract Christmas party which I thought was going to be super lame but it ended up being one of the best nights I've had here so far, and all those kids (20-30 years old... not so much "kids," I suppose...) are super fun.
Christmas was interesting here. Big ole dinner on Christmas Eve with lots of extended family and small children, followed by Midnight Mass and present exchanging--yes, at two in the morning. I received a book from my host family with photos of Sardegna. And my host dad was STOKED on his chocolate cigar. :] But definitely a new experience for me!
We did manage to get a group together and celebrate Hanukkah though, and that was really different for everyone else. We made latkes and matzo ball soup (and stuffing... thanks to a late Thanksgiving box...), lit the menorah and played dreidel! It was very fun. :]Also. Just because I think it's cool, my marrochino:
New Years was so fun! Maria's family has a summer house in Alghero, and no one uses it during the winter, so we had a girl's night with about ten of us, and watched the fireworks from the roof of the apartment, which was super cool because the show was directly across the street over the ocean. I brought Jelly Belly's and they were all floored. Apparently we've been taking
them for granted. I had to refer to them as Bernie Bott's Every Flavored Beans from Harry Potter (which are called Tuttigusti+1 in Italian... which I know, because I'm reading the first book!! Yay!!) because they couldn't comprehend the idea.
